


To believe is to live

by MissToast



Category: Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Snippet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:28:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24722314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissToast/pseuds/MissToast
Summary: Daniel Coward does not believe in magic. But he may believe in Henry Blackwood.
Relationships: Lord Henry Blackwood/Lord Coward
Comments: 9
Kudos: 10





	To believe is to live

Lord Daniel Coward does not believe in magic.

He knows it is all smoke and mirrors with Henry – very complicated smoke and mirrors, and extremely cleverly arranged ones, yes, but still smoke and mirrors.

And yet. And yet…sometimes he finds himself believing. Just for a second. When the words Henry utters at a ritual are especially well crafted, when his voice is just rich and deep and dark enough to make Daniel shudder, when the flames cast shadows upon the walls of the sewer and make them dance… Then he finds he believes in magic.

It is just such a fine idea, that special words and touches and gestures could change the fabric of the universe.

But then again, is it not so? The right words can make a person follow and so can the right touches and gestures.

So maybe it is not so much the magic that Daniel believes in as it is Henry.  
His lord is so grand in his power, so beautiful, and Daniel has made the decision to follow him blindly a long time ago. Never would he have expected to be paid so prettily for his service, though.  
Blackwood trusts him. Henry trusts him with his life and with his secrets.

And is that not magic as well? That a man so powerful, so devoid of emotion, so controlled and controlling, should fall for him, return his affections – it certainly feels like magic.

So perhaps it really isn’t the magic Coward believes in, it is the warmth of Henry’s hand on his back, the wetness of his mouth on his, the weight of his body when he is in bed with Daniel. He believes in it with a faith that would put any religious fanatic to shame. And he believes that it will last forever, just as the empire they are going to build will last forever.

That is why, when the plan does not work in parliament, he still holds on to this belief. It is such a big part of himself that he can’t let it go, not even in the face of failure, because if he does, he will start panicking and will lose his dignity. So he believes, even when Henry turns away and leaves and he is grabbed by the other Lords and he believes still when he is thrown into a cell and locked away and told that he is going to hang.

He believes, right until the moment Holmes strides in, that dreadful, overconfident little man who can’t keep his nose out of other people’s business. He believes until Holmes tells him that Blackwood is dead, that Henry hangs above London, killed by a silly little man with too many complexes to count

It is right then that his belief leaves him. He is left empty, so empty that it hurts, hurts, hurts.

Daniel Coward does no longer believe in magic, or Henry Blackwood, or love, or really anything.  
He just stares at the wall and waits for death.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction that I wrote in english - so if eveything is very stilted and sounds awfull, I am sorry. Also, I know this fandom is dead, gone and burried, but if somebody should read this fic I would be really, really happy about any sort of feedback - even one word would be great! I might actually try to write more for this pairing because I am ridiciously in love with them.


End file.
